Category Archives: Composting

All Stink Considered

NPR’s All Things Considered just aired an interesting piece on the experimental food waste recycling program in Los Angeles. It’s certainly worth a listen, especially to hear how some folks respond to the idea of separating food scraps from their regular trash.   Hearing the description of L.A.’s waste transfer station brings back memories…of bad smells. Be very glad […]

September 30, 2008 | Posted in Composting | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

I like the idea of a compost bench, but not the price tag. — — It’s always nice to hear about food waste from our friends down under. Then again…I think I disagree with every opinion in this post, written by an American ex-pat living in Australia, on doggie bags (except the ridiculousness of U.S. […]

September 26, 2008 | Also posted in Friday Buffet, International, Restaurant | Comments closed

Fresh Compost

I live close to a school. This summer, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it had a garden. I came to learn that it’s one of those Edible Schoolyard type gardens, and I’ve been told that they use it to teach math and other subjects in addition to illustrating where food comes from. Apparently […]

September 24, 2008 | Also posted in School | Comments closed

County Composting in Oregon?

Word out of Oregon is that Marion County is considering composting all of its food waste. To which I say: go for it! I drove through that very county on my recent West Coast trip and if that stretch of Highway 5 is any indication…Fine, I couldn’t tell anything from the road, but I think […]

September 23, 2008 | Posted in Composting | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Democratic National Convention organizers aimed to divert 85 percent of its waste from the landfill, including composting food. Based on this Rocky Mountain News article, it seems like they’ll have to settle for 70 percent. In my book, that’s still quite an accomplishment, as described here. So why bar volunteers from talking to the press, […]

August 29, 2008 | Also posted in Events, Friday Buffet, Trayless | Comments closed

Vacuum-sealed Results

Two weeks ago, I wrote about testing the Handi-Vac vacuum sealer. The results are in, folks. I’d expected that vacuum sealing, whether to freeze or refrigerate, would make food last longer. True indeed. After 16 days, the Handi-Vac green beans were a little slimy, but still firm. They were beginning to turn, but still didn’t […]

August 27, 2008 | Also posted in Household | Comments closed

Marion Nestle Q & A

Marion Nestle is a Professor in NYU’s Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health and author of What to Eat, Food Politics and more. Marion was kind enough to share her insights on food waste and American’s eating habits in this e-mail interview. — WF: Not knowing when things go bad and what to […]

August 26, 2008 | Also posted in Household, Q & A, Restaurant, Supermarket | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Publix supermarkets recently announced a program to compost meat, produce and bakery items from 56 Broward County stores and all 237 S. Florida stores by mid-2009. Organic Recovery will convert the supermarket waste to a soil supplement by enzymatic digestion. Great news, but I’d love to see this kind of top-down approach to donating the […]

August 22, 2008 | Also posted in Friday Buffet, International, Supermarket | Comments closed

Numbers

Often, when I read an article on food waste, I see something like this: ‘Food waste makes up 12 percent of our landfills.’ That makes a lot of sense when you see this EPA info. Digging deeper, however, we learn that it’s actually more grim: Food waste makes up 18 percent of landfill contents. Here’s […]

August 18, 2008 | Also posted in Waste Stream | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Gotta love this well-executed leftovers humor, courtesy of The Onion. — Welcome news: Due to rising food prices, 62 percent of shoppers at the British chain Sainsbury’s are concerned about wasted food. Even more heartening, about 1/3 of those polled report that they’re doing something about it–by making food stretch over a couple of meals. […]

August 15, 2008 | Also posted in Friday Buffet, Household, International | Comments closed